The clean-slate year starting Tuesday is also the International Year of Statistics and its official colour, according to the Pantone Color Institute, is Monaco Blue.

“It has stability and depth,” says Leatrice Eiseman, the institute’s executive director. “People are being more thoughtful; they’re looking for dependable classics.”

In Roman numerals, we’re starting MMXIII.

On July 1, Croatia will join the European Union.

To numerologists, 2013 is a 6 Universal Year, which is a good thing. Six, in numbers philosophy is “a loving, caring, responsible, warm, humane, and compassionate number that directs most of its energy to small, closely-knit groups; family, community, friends.”

Doomsdayers are ignoring that in favour of predicting dire electrical consequences in 2013 as the Sun reaches its 11-year cycle maximum and sets off a volley of solar flares.

NASA, which assured the world earlier this month that it wasn’t going to end on Dec. 21, also said it’s not expecting any solar weather catastrophes in the near future.

The Chinese Year of the Snake starts on Feb. 10, a year traditionally associated with robust health, sensuality and business success to the energetic and quick-witted.

Snake years are also associated with unpredictability and sudden calamities, which seems likely.

What else will mark a notable 2013?

Some big U.S. movie releases: “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Man of Steel” and “Star Trek into Darkness.”

It’s the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain exploring the Ottawa River to Alumette Island and the destruction of the Globe Theatre by fire in London.

Also the 110th anniversary of Harley Davidson, the 105th anniversary of the publication of “Anne of Green Gables” and the 100th anniversary of 4H youth farm clubs in Canada.

Here’s a look at some other key anniversaries coming up in 2013:

Jan. 1: 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States to free the slaves.

Jan. 10: 150th anniversary of the opening of the London Underground, the world’s oldest underground railway.

Jan. 26: 25th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” opening on Broadway, the longest-running musical in Broadway history.

Jan. 27: 40th anniversary of the signing of a peace agreement between North and South Vietnam, ending the war.